
by TheHordeWorks
You may know him as the Lord of the Flies, but did you know Beelzebub is also the current Emperor of Hell? They’ve been Emperor of Hell for as long as you or I have been alive. Since 1128 AD to be precise. And they should be emperor for another 200 years. That is, if they make it past 2023. September 15th started as any other day: a quick turning over of a few souls before checking in on one of their favorite Rehab Centers for the reformed Damned: Snake Hill. Little did Beelzebub know that one of Snake Hill’s newest residents would be a witch with beef to settle… Now cursed to remain in their goat form, Beelzebub must traverse the American countryside in search of their magic and their soul. The only catch? If they don’t find them before the winter solstice, they’ll remain a goat for the rest of their life. There’s also a good chance that Hell and Earth will collapse into each other, but that isn’t Beelzebub’s immediate concern. They fear something far worse: realizing that they never had a 'soul' to begin with. Beelzebub’s Curse is a spin-off novel set in the HORDE universe. It began from the Royal Road Community Magazine contest and prompt: “The person you pretend to be.” As Beelzebub fondly states: “We’re all pretending here.” Updates sporadically now until finished. [Taking a backseat to other projects, though more followers will inspire me to update sooner] [Cover image made by me using good ol' sharpie and Microsoft Word because I'm that old.]. I only post on RR and Wattpad under TheHordeWorks, and on Patreon as "Horde by A.E. Payne". If you find this work anywhere else, please let me know.
No streak history
Rank updated 14 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Entry forecast updated 14 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Overall Rising Stars shadow rank
deep field · ~#3201 of 6,880 · 3151 below #50
By genre
beats 62% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 36% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
At this conversion, the Horror Rising Stars bar (≈0 new followers/day) costs about 52 views/day — the story currently gets ~12.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 10–19 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.